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Unity in the Church
Joh_17:23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Rom_15:5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
Eph_4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Eph_4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
We, as the body of Christ (the church universal and local), are called to a life of unity with one another. Much is made about the discord within churches (and that is not new, just read 1 and 2 Corinthians) today.
The question I want to post this morning is two fold:
1) What is right with the church today. We, including me, can easily bash the bride of Christ and forget that there is so much right with the church. Share what you believe is right with the church. You may focus on the local church, the universal or both.
2) What is unity and what does it look like in the body of Christ, again both locally and universally.
In advance, thanks for replying.
Lord Bless,
LT
Views: 470
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Colby on
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LT,
It is easy to look at the discord, strife and division within the Church, which has been present with us since the first century and continues to the present day, and simply resign ourselves to its inevitability until Christ comes again. But I think that is the wrong attitude or approach to take. As much as we might become disheartened, frustrated, and discouraged at times by the squabbling and splitting that plagues the Church, which occasionally spills over into our blessed AAG community, we are nonetheless urged by Paul the Apostle to press on and not to give up.
The quest for unity in the Body of Christ -- no matter how idealistic, unreal or elusive it may seem -- is a universal and timeless call given by Paul the Apostle. We should give it our urgent and full attention and make it a priority. Let this be our goal.
You see, here is the starting point or foundation: "there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:5,6)
What does unity look like? Granted, we are not likely to see unity in the fullest and truest sense until the second coming of Christ, but that is no reason to put it off or see it as a lost cause. There are meaningful ways in which we can strive for and attain greater unity now. It begins with you and me. It means primarily letting ourselves be instruments of God's grace-filled love to one another. It means putting aside our own often petty and narrow-minded differences and instead concentrating on our common identity as followers of Jesus Christ, as children of God, and as believers in God's plan of salvation as presented in the Holy Scriptures.
So, how do we do this? The road map to Christian unity is laid out in Chapter 4 of the 13th Chapter of Paul's letter to the Church at Ephesus. I urge all who are reading this discussion to open your Bibles and read and ponder Paul's timeless and universal call for Christian unity.
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Colby,
You make an inportant point when you urge that though unity in its fullest will not be reached here in this life we none-the-less must strive for it (paraphased by me). I like looking at the opposite side of coins. In this case if we did not strive for unity ... what would we have in place what that striving brings about?
I also like quips. You stated It means primarily letting ourselves be instruments of God's grace-filled love to one another. It means putting aside our own often petty and narrow-minded differences and instead concentrating on our common identity as followers of Jesus Christ, as children of God, and as believers in God's plan of salvation as presented in the Holy Scriptures. I like the little quip "Life is not all about me." That helps me, at least attempt, to stay focused on what really matters.
Your link takes us to a wonderful reminder and teacher.
Lord Bless,
LT
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If we did not strive for unity ... what would we have in place instead?
It would be to erect walls around ourselves and to become disconnected from our brothers and sisters in Christ. We'd exalt ourselves over others. We'd close our ears and our eyes and our hearts and thrive on our own partisanship, arrogance, and simple close-mindedness. We all can do this very well. I know I certainly can. Such attempts will ultimately fail because they deny the very will of God.
Unity is often misunderstood. It doesn't mean uniformity. It doesn't mean the Church must be like a Starbucks or McDonalds franchise where everything is the same everywhere. It doesn't mean that the Church must be governed by an authoritarian ecclesiastical structure where rigid discipline is strictly imposed from the top down and everyone must believe exactly the same things.
There's room for diversity and differences in the Church within reasonable limits, provided there is agreement on the essentials. Scripture is our final authority. Paul the Apostle clearly summarizes the essentials in 1st Corinthians 15: "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain."
Whether we're Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Holiness, Baptist, Nazarene, Reformed, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, nondenominational, evangelical, etc., we're united in faith to the one who has endured and overcome death and set us free from our sins. We're united in that we give our hearts to Jesus. We believe in and worship the one true and living God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures and in the person of Jesus Christ. Most important, as new creations in Christ, we're called to love God and to love one another, and to incarnate Christ's teachings in our lives.
"In the essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in everything else, charity."
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Permalink Reply by Grazer #E2H on
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Unity involves everyone agreeing on what's right/correct.......you don't need me to point out the obvious there
I think we need to get away from labels like fundamentalist, liberal etc; we are all children of God (that's not actually a bad starting point) I freely admit I've used these labels but it's probably time for me to stop.
I've suggested before we should focus on things that actually matter but that just caused a row over what matters. Until people start being less interested in telling others they're wrong, we're going to get nowhere
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Labels are designed to encapsulate and identify a thought or teaching. The labels in of themselves are not bad. What matters is how we use them and for what purpose.
Addressing error is not bad either. As a pastor it is one of my responsibilities. There are two imprtant factors here. The first is to be teachable and to have convictions that do not allow you to be easliy swayed, but when wrong adjust accordingly. Second is how we approach refuting an error and the purpose behind the refuting of the error.
What is often missed regarding these discussions is that the dialogue between two or more participants is not limited to them alone. Many others come to this site and will read these comments. Thus, when I have addressed you, or others, in the past my goal is not to simply reach Grazer or persuade him. My goal includes the larger audience for which this site was created.
Lord Bless,
LT
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My point was really about, it seems that some Christians spend their time doing nothing but correcting and a) that can't be healthy and b) can do more harm than good. When we are wrong we should adjust accordingly but that involves actually being open to the possibility that you're wrong
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Careful, it might become a habit ;)
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Grazer,
Expanding on your response, what do you believe are the very things that matter most in our walk of faith with Jesus Christ? What is at the foundation, essence or very heart of living as an authentic Christian, and why do you say that? I invite you to share.
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“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"
"Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37,39)
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9)
That's it; those to me are the things that matter most. Love God, love your neighbor, love your enemy, declare that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. Everything else either stems out of those or is peripheral/secondary.
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Permalink Reply by Seek on
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I agree with that. We get too bogged down in, speak in tongues or don't, cast out devils or don't, tithe or don't and how much, take communion or don't, be baptized or don't. And they're all covered in the Bible, but we all also come from different areas in our faith, different backgrounds, etc. and we're always going to differ and vary on points. It's the main one that matters and the rest is secondary.
Saying that, we're all human and quite frankly, I don't see anyway that we're NOT going to discuss such topics and disagree. If we found a way to do that, we'd no longer be human.
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Christians disagree on many things.
- The devil is in the details (pun intended).
- These may be "minor" things that are largely a matter of nuance, subtlety, or gradation.
- Other differences are sharp and pronounced.
- Our differences abound and run the gamut: music, liturgy, creation vs. evolution, Biblical interpretation, style of worship, meaning and purpose of baptism and the Lord's Supper, divorce and remarriage, once saved/always saved, free will, women in the clergy, church governance/authority, eschatology (end times), observing the Sabbath, creeds, and confessions of belief, etc.
What do we agree on? What does unity look like in the Body of Christ?
Many (if not most) Christians, myself included, would agree with Graham (Grazer) that these two things are essentials of the Christian faith:
- The Great Commandment to love God and love one another.
- Jesus is "Lord" and was resurrected from the dead.
BUT WHAT ELSE CAN WE AGREE ON?
I wonder if we can go on and add to this list of beliefs/propositions that define the historic Christian faith and mark us as believers/followers of Jesus Christ and members of the Body of Christ before our differences kick in?
I will add these to the list ...
1) Jesus is Lord and Savior: We are sinners, flawed and imperfect. The solution to all the problems of the human race, including forgiveness of sins, the restoration of our broken relationship with God and living in peace and love with one another, as well as eternal life, are ultimately found in Jesus Christ—the way, the truth and the life. (John 3:16, John 14:6, 2 Timothy 1:10, Titus 2:11) (This isn't an addition, really, but rather an elaboration on Graham's statement that Jesus is "Lord.")
2) There is only ONE true and living God, Creator and Lord of everything, sovereign, righteous, infinitely perfect, all powerful, all knowing, and eternally existent in three co-equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (The Trinity). (Genesis 1:1, Acts 17:24, Nehemiah 9:6, Isaiah 9:6, Romans 5:5, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Matthew 28:19)
3) God speaks to us through the Bible. The Old and New Testaments were written by holy men inspired by God, are useful for teaching and Christian formation and contain all things necessary for salvation. (2 Timothy 3:16, Romans 15:4)
4) Jesus of Nazareth was an actual historical person born of Mary, gathered disciples and taught, healed, and performed miracles in the first-century Roman province of Palestine, was crucified by Pontius Pilate, was resurrected on the third day and appeared to many before he ascended to heaven a short time later.
5) God is manifested vividly, fully, and compellingly in Jesus of Nazareth. He was, and is, the Christ of God. He is God's "Word" made flesh. (John 1:14, John 10:30, John 1:1)
Your turn ...
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